


A Dance for the Little Lady

by turtleeden



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Post-Canon, Post-Game Adventures, ShuAnnWeek2k19, because the baby's going to rot your teeth, i hope you didn't read anything too sweet before reading this, i love this baby so much she's a precious bean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 07:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19662745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtleeden/pseuds/turtleeden
Summary: Akira and Ann are married and have recently been blessed with a baby girl. While Akira's still adjusting to the new world of fatherhood, he did figure out something about his daughter: she loves it when her father dances with her.(Day 6 Prompt: Future/Family)





	A Dance for the Little Lady

Music was softly playing in the background, keeping the man of the house occupied as he straightened up the living room. Akira would’ve liked to have the living room not look like a hurricane blew through it for at least a day or two, but the true source of this mess often wouldn’t give him that chance when she’s awake and moving about. Especially when she would try to chase poor Morgana all around the room at times. But that was one of the prices of fatherhood, he supposed. Keeping up with a baby was messy work, and that included cleaning up after her when she was done with her mini explorations.

Akira picked up another handful of baby toys so that he could put it away in the toybox. As he saw that he had most of the floor clear of toys, the playlist that he had playing in the background changed into the next track. And that particular track caught the attention of his very active baby, as shown by her coos of enjoyment. Hearing the sound of it made Akira smile as he walked towards the crib and saw his little daughter clapping her hands in glee.

“What are you smiling at, Mari?” he asked sweetly.

Mari giggled as her little legs kicked in the air, still clapping cutely along with the track that was currently playing. Eventually she tried to move around some more, with her little body rolling back and forth in place inside of the crib. Akira chuckled a little as he watched her move. Mari wasn’t exactly a loud baby, but if she wasn’t sleeping, she was always trying to move. Ann often joked that Mari got that from him… but really, Akira believed that his wife shared some of that blame too. In all of the years that he’s known her, Ann could never slow down either.

“You like that song?” Akira then asked, looking over at the music player. The song itself was pretty old... it came out when he was a kid. ( _How time flies... Sometimes he didn't want to think about that particular aspect. Because then he would really feel old._ ) It was always a fun song to listen to if he wanted to raise his mood a little. And coincidentally, it was working wonders for his daughter as well. Mari was still swaying -- er, rolling in her enjoyment.

“You’re such an active girl… it’s cute.” Akira mused. 

Watching her move like that made him think of an idea for the two of them to do, and it quickly became one of the things that got Mari to either calm down or smile when he did it. Settling on the idea in his mind, Akira walked over to the music player and set the track currently playing to be on loop so that Mari could enjoy it for as long as she wanted. He then returned to Mari’s crib, where she eventually slowed down on her rolling. Instead she looked up at her father with curiosity in her big blue eyes.

“Come on, Mari,” Akira beckoned, reaching down into the crib. “Wanna dance with Papa?”

Mari made a sound that sounded a squeal of excitement. She formed a big smile as Akira reached down to pick her up, and she raised her arms up and grabbed the air with her tiny hands in response. Akira couldn’t help but laugh. Sometimes Mari was just _too cute._

“I’m gonna take that as a ‘yes’,” he chuckled. “Let’s dance with Papa.”

Akira picked his daughter up and gently held her in his arms. While he cradled her with one arm supporting her, his other hand pressed against the back of her head, where he could feel the soft curls of her black hair under his fingers. When he felt that she was secure, he then walked back to the center of the living room as if the two of them were taking center stage. Thanks to Akira cleaning up beforehand, he had more than enough room to dance around with his daughter. He crouched down with his legs for a moment, making a sort of impromptu gentlemanly bow before he rose back up. Akira then took one of Mari’s small hands into his and lightly kissed the back of her little fingers.

“My lady.” he said with a smile. Mari’s response was simply an open mouthed smile of her own.

Akira began to move around with the beat of the track, still holding Mari’s hand as he acted like he was leading in the dance. He moved his body with a little sway, twirling around the room as Mari giggled in his arms. Occasionally, he lifted his arm up slightly so that he could bounce her in his arms at times, and that only made Mari giggle even more. ( _She always loved it when her father makes her bounce a little in his arms. He supposed that Mari found it fun when he did that._ ) Akira kept at his steady rhythm for a while, making sure to make the dance fun for his little lady as he did so.

“My, such a lovely little dancer.” he complimented sweetly, leaning in to nuzzle his nose against Mari’s soft cheek. Not expecting her father to be snuggling against her, Mari turned her head away with a soft coo to her voice. Akira laughed heartily at her reaction. 

“Don’t act shy now, Mari.” he chuckled, before planting a brief kiss upon the crown of her head. Sometimes Mari had her moments where she was funny to him.

The two of them continued their dance, with Akira keeping his pace as he swayed his body to the beat, much to his daughter's enjoyment. He wasn't too tired after today, but even if he was, he would always try and push himself just so he could see a smile on Mari's little face. Perhaps it was a fatherhood thing... or maybe Mari's charm was simply too great to resist. ( _And he hasn't even taught her anything... hopefully Mari won't grow up to be too much of a bewitching devil like her father. She already had her mother's beauty. The world would not be ready if Mari inherited both aspects._ ) Eventually Akira heard the sound of someone unlocking the front door, and he became more alert even as he kept dancing.

“I’m home!”

Akira turned his head towards the front door to see Ann entering the house. She kicked off her shoes and left them by the door, sighing in content as she ran a hand through her long, blonde hair. Akira smiled at the sight of her, even as he continued to rock their daughter in his arms. It looks like she was able to come home from her local modeling gig a little earlier than he expected. That was fine with him. Anytime that Ann can come home to him early was a good thing in his eyes. Coincidentally, Mari’s head perked up once she recognized the sound of her mother’s voice, and she let out an excited squeal. Akira laughed as he heard that from her. 

“Welcome home.” he called out to his wife in greeting. “Someone else heard that Mama’s home too, you know.”

“I heard her! And she beat you to the punch, slowpoke.” Ann called back, laughing to herself as she entered the living room. 

Akira slowed down on his dancing so that Ann could approach the two of them with ease. The minute that Ann drew close, Akira bowed his head down so that he could give his wife a chaste kiss as a way of saying ‘Welcome home.’ Ann gave him a satisfied smile before she turned her attention towards her baby girl. She immediately beamed once she saw that Mari was already reaching out to her mother with her tiny hands. Ann quickly rushed to her side in her excitement, being more than happy to shower her with affection.

“MariMari ~ ! Did you miss Mama?” Ann cooed sweetly, rapidly pressing kisses against Mari’s cheek. Mari cooed happily as she felt her mother’s peppered kisses, which made Ann squeal with delight. “Mama missed you too! Looks like you were already having fun with Papa!”

“We were dancing.” Akira explained with a soft smile. “I was just telling Mari that she was a lovely dancer, but then she decided to act all shy.”

“Hehe… it’s okay, Mari. That’s just Papa’s old charm. It took Mama a while to resist it.” Ann laughed.

“I’m sorry, ‘resist?’ Yeah, right. That’s never happened.” Akira scoffed, rolling his eyes. Ann playfully stuck her tongue out at him in response, enjoying the sight of him pouting a little. It’s gotten easier for her to make him pout over the years, much to Akira’s chagrin. And Ann always made sure to use that to her advantage whenever she feels like poking fun at him.

“Anywho… mind if I cut in?” Ann asked, picking up Mari from Akira’s arms without much warning.

“Oh? Stealing my date now?” Akira quipped, quirking a brow at her.

“Oh, you’ll live.” Ann replied casually. As she adjusted her arms to accommodate for her daughter, Ann grinned as she began to sway in place. “I wanna see how great a dancer Mari is! You’ll show Mama... right, Mari?”

Mari smiled as she let out a soft coo, her fingers squeezing the soft fabric of Ann’s shirt. Unable to resist herself, Ann pressed another kiss atop Mari’s forehead. “Right! Ooh, you’re such a good girl!” she gushed happily. “Alright then, let’s see… One, two, three… One, two, three…”

Ann’s dance was less ‘formal’ than Akira’s was. Instead of holding her hand like she was leading in a dance, Ann held Mari upright as she rocked her from side to side, holding her close to her chest. She was light on her feet as she swayed her body to the music and twirled around the living room in a bigger circle. Despite the lack of ‘formality’ in this dance, Mari was giggling all the same, making excited squeals in her glee as she twirled with her mother. Mari’s laughter only spurred Ann on as she continued their dance with all of the energy she had left.

All the while, Akira stood back as he watched his girls dance around the room. Ann was very enthusiastic as she twirled around the room without a care, and Mari was simply enjoying herself as she was getting pulled around in a constant dance. He chuckled to himself softly, idly wondering to himself how Ann managed to have all of that energy even when she just came home from work.

And just when that thought crossed his mind, the answer immediately came to him as if to say the obvious: _It’s Ann._

That single thought made him chuckle to himself again. Some things never change, after all of these years… No matter how old she gets, Ann was still the girl with the boundless, infectious energy that he fell in love with a long time ago. And here they are now… married with a baby. It was funny how life works sometimes. A lot of things can be different from what they were before, but some aspects remained the same.

“What are you laughing at over there?” Ann asked, snapping Akira out of his thoughts. He saw that Ann slowed her pace down a bit, but she was still swaying her body around with Mari in tow. “You’re not laughing at our dancing, are you?”

“‘Course not. That’d be rude.” Akira said easily.

“Hmm…” Ann hummed lowly, eying him a little. While Ann was trying to figure out if her husband was just teasing her again, Mari cooed softly as she snuggled her head against her mother’s chest, sounding tired. Ann, feeling her snuggle, looked down at her daughter and smiled. 

“Ooh, looks like someone got tired from all that dancing.” she mused.

“Told you she was a good dancer.” Akira replied, grinning at them.

“Hehe… I had no doubt.” 

Ann eventually stopped moving around the room, but she was still rocking Mari in a more gentle sway in order to relax her. She brushed her fingers against her black hair, gently massaging her soft scalp in little soothing circles. Eventually Mari turned quiet as she relaxed in her mother’s arms. She’s not asleep yet… but it was only a matter of time before she dozes off. The two of them learned that was one of Mari’s little cues.

“I’ve got to thank you for the dance, MariMari. I had a lot of fun.” Ann said softly, smiling as she pressed another kiss on the crown of Mari’s head.

“I had fun too, my lovely little dancer. We’ll let you rest a while, Mari.” Akira chimed in, gently rubbing against Mari’s back as he drew closer to his two girls. He then wrapped an arm around Ann’s shoulders and pulled her to him in a gentle embrace, stealing a kiss on the cheek all the while.

“She’ll probably be hungry by the time she gets up again.” Ann mused with a grin.

“Probably. We’ll have that covered.” Akira assured, gently rubbing his hand against Ann’s shoulder as a form of comfort. “In the meantime… how was your day?”

“It was great…! I think I’m finally starting to get my groove back after being on leave for so long…” Ann said enthusiastically. "It's kinda funny that some of the crew members are asking so many questions about Mari. They haven't even met her yet and she's getting popular already!"

The two of them then walked towards the sofa together, sitting down and relaxing with ease. Akira and Ann spent the time swapping stories about what happened to them today. Ann recapped the events that happened at the studio she was going to for the past few weeks and what the job for the day entailed. Akira in the meanwhile also spoke about how his day went, and what Mari spent the day doing before their little dance. The little lady herself relaxed in her mother’s arms as she enjoyed feeling the warmth radiating from both of her parents, and she eventually fell asleep in peace.


End file.
